A review by johndomc
Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh

adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A nice mix of both action and reflection, promised from the first paragraph. “He made angry jabs with his blunt forefinger at the dial — and to its faint and responsive tinkling an invisible curtain rose upon a series of events that were to be confined within the dark hours of that short midsummer night, bounded between dusk and dawn.” The book took a while to get the players introduced and the stage set, but it was a pleasant while, with each detail worthy of suspicion. And then, about a quarter of the way through, the action took off. We ran with the inspector from one fire to another, the picture first complicating and then beginning to resolve, always with both progress and doubt. And we got to see Marsh and Duffy’s native New Zealand countryside : to smell the roses and the dark earth and the wet rock, hear the possums and morepork; to duck for the crash of thunder in a land still young with earthquakes, see the spine of the mountains and the flat plains and overhead the dark-spangled cloak of the Milky Way. 
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